It seemed as if every other person attending a Tuesday morning candidates forum was either running for office or already an elected official. The Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation hosted the forum at Fort Washington Golf and Country Club, and an audience of about 200 heard from 13 candidates running for...
Fresno May Need General Fund Revenue to Pay Artists Until City Gets Paid Back
As experts pore over financial information from the Fresno Arts Council, city officials have a better idea of where thing stand after taking over administering the multimillion dollar arts fund. The city finds itself in the position after the arts council informed officials of an alleged $1.5 million embezzlement of...
Why More Districts Are Getting a Free Pass on CA Law That Sets Minimums for Classroom Spending
Growing numbers of school districts in the Valley and around California are spending less on classroom teachers than state law requires. Education Code 41372 requires unified school districts — pre-K through 12 — to devote at least 55% of their budgets to classroom teachers. For high school districts, the requirement...
Fresno Council to Hear Land Plan to Revitalize Central SE Area
On Thursday, Fresno City Councilmembers will weigh new land use plans for the developed part of southeast Fresno, which includes the fairgrounds, Fresno Pacific University, and the Mosqueda Center. The city's Central Southeast Area Specific Plan encompasses 2,000 acres in a triangular area from Belmont Avenue to Church Avenue and...
Fresno Unified Elementary Students Must Return Laptops as District Shifts to In-Class Use
No longer will every student in the Fresno Unified School District have a laptop for use at home. For almost six years, the school district provided every student with a device, part of a nationwide push to give students equal access to technology during the coronavirus pandemic, which closed schools and...
Chicano Poet Michael Jasso Touches Hearts by Letting the Universe Do the Writing
Chicano poet Michael Jasso doesn’t plan his typewriter poems. He doesn’t outline, revise, or workshop them in advance. Instead, he listens. Sitting behind two vintage typewriters—one a Smith Corona fitted with looping cursive letters and the other with regular font, Jasso asks strangers a simple question: What do you want...
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetle… Opens Friday the 13th in Fresno
Perhaps it is no coincidence that the North American tour of "Beetlejuice" launches in Fresno on Friday the 13th. Audiences are safe, as long as they do not repeat the not-so-friendly ghost's name three times. The Broadway musical based on the 1988 movie has been staged worldwide. The first of...
$1.5M of Measure P Funds Embezzled from Fresno Arts Council. PD and FBI Are Probing
The Fresno Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation are investigating the reported embezzlement of $1.5 million in Measure P funds from the Fresno Arts Council by a former employee. Lt. Larry Bowlan, Fresno Police spokesman, said Monday that the department learned Friday about the embezzlement and launched the probe....
Peace Fresno Continues Weekly River Park Protests With Anti-ICE Focus
Dozens of protesters lined the sidewalks near River Park Saturday afternoon as part of Peace Fresno’s weekly demonstration, calling for an end to Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the Central Valley and urging local officials to refuse cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. The protest is part of a recurring...
Moltbook Is What Happens When AI Stops Performing and Starts Talking
Moltbook, which bills itself as the Reddit of AI, has given artificial intelligence something dangerously close to a sense of itself. AI agents using the very much real website already created a religion. They’ve tried to sue a human. They talk to each other the way we talk to each...